Undefeated and on the road?

(Image from city-data.com).

Why is Manatee, 12-0 and ranked first in the state in Class 5A, forced to travel for Friday's Region 3 championship game while Palm Bay Bayside, which has lost three times this season, gets to stay home?
No real reason. That's just the way it worked out.
Forget about the rankings and records - when it comes to deciding who goes where in the prep playoffs, those things don't mean anything.
OK, the records mean something in the first round, or quarterfinals, when a champion from one district hosts a runner-up from another.
But that is the last time a team controls its own travel log, which is why Manatee hosted St. Thomas Aquinas in last year's state semifinal even though Aquinas had won 37 straight games and consecutive state titles.
This year, in Class 5A, the Florida High School Athletic Association ruled before the season started that the school on the bottom of the bracket is the host school in the regional semifinals, or second round, with the exception being if a runner-up advances and plays a district champion.
In that case, the district champ hosts, regardless of the which end of the bracket each team resides.
Still with me?
The bottom-of-the-bracket rule holds true in the regional final. And as you can see here, Manatee sits on the top of the bracket.
Bayside sits on the bottom.
(Southeast has been handed the same fate, and will play for the Class 3A-Region 3 championship Friday at South Fort Myers).
Now, if you look at the rest of the Class 5A bracket, you will notice Tampa Plant is hosting Countryside, even though Plant is on top and both teams won their district.
Why? Well, it's another exception to the earlier rule - if the school on the bottom was home during the first two rounds, and the school on top traveled for either of the first two rounds, then the team on top gets to host.
Everybody got that?
Finally, why is Manatee traveling for a second year in a row? Last year, if you remember, the Hurricanes were the runner-up out of District 10 and Palm Bay was a district champ.
Had both teams been champions, last year's regional final would have been in Bradenton.
And oh, before you ask, Friday's winner is on the road for next week's state semifinal - Regions 2 and 4 play hosts in Classes 5A, 3A, 1A and 1B.
Again, that's just the way it worked out.

Varsity Blues vs. All The Right Moves

(Images from moviepostershop.com)

It may not be one of the world's greatest debates, but it's still fun to compare 1983's All The Right Moves and 1999's Varsity Blues.
Both tackle the world of high school football - the former takes place in a Pennsylvania steel town, the latter in rural Texas - and neither are based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, unlike 2004's Friday Night Lights.
So which is better? Well, let's take a gander.
(And before you question my credentials as a movie critic, I own both.)

The Hero - Both films earn kudos in this category. VB's Jon Moxon (James Van Der Beek) and ATRM's Stefan Djordjevic (Tom Cruise, back when he was, you know, normal) are unconventional football leads. Moxon is a back-up QB who reads Slaughterhouse-Five on the sideline and has no plans of playing football at Brown University, which has given our lad an academic scholarship. Djordjevic is a undersized cornerback - how many movies focus on the defensive backs? - who hopes to play ball in college while studying engineering. Neither of these guys wants to play in the NFL (Djordevic even laughs at a college coach who broaches the topic) which is refreshing, and neither date the captain of the cheerleading team.
(Moxon even turns her in a down in a classic scene not fit for a family-friend blog such as Prep Rally.)
Edge: All The Right Moves. You have to love a movie whose hero mans the defensive side of the ball.

The Coach - Other than his memorable cameo on Seinfeld (the scene of him biting Kramer's arm is one for the time capsule), Jon Voight owes the second wave of his career to his turn as Bud Kilmer, VB's monstrous football coach. But that's the problem - Kilmer is TOO monstrous. He rarely smiles, forces his players to play through life-threatening injuries and looks the other way when his star wide receiver drunkenly steals a police car. Sorry, but this wouldn't fly in the politically-correct 1990s, and even if it did, his players would have rebelled years ago. This was the 90s, folks, when your kids started to get some edge, (Thanks, Pearl Jam.), and would only take so much Kilmer's barking. On the flip side, Craig T. Nelson - before he landed another coaching gig - is believable as Nickerson, leader of ATRM's Ampipe Bulldogs. He's a stern piledriver, but he also has a wife and family. He wants to get out of town as much as his players do, giving him and the teenagers sort of a perverse bond. Nickerson becomes the heavy as the film develops, but a heavy with good reason.
Edge: All The Right Moves. Voight has a lot of fun chomping on the scenery, but Nelson wouldn't look out of place standing on a sideline in Anytown, U.S.A.

The Big Game - This is where ATRM takes a huge lead. Not only is the game entertaining to watch, but it reeks of realism. It doesn't hurt that Cruise played ball in high school and looks very belivable returning a pick six. But the best part is it happens in the OPENING THIRD of the movie! Yes, a sports movie that doesn't lead into The Big Game. Instead, it gets The Big Game out of the way, and deals with the aftermath.
(And like I said, the game is a keeper, especially its wrenching ending.)
And this is where VB becomes like every other jock flick - it comes down to the final play of the season, and we know who is going to win and how they are going to win, and just how they are going to celebrate. That said, it speaks volumes about VB that even though we know where it's going, we hang on for the ride anyway. And it is a lot of fun getting there.
Edge: ATRM. Watch the game and tell me you don't feel as if you can hear the band and smell the burgers.

The Look - ATRM takes place in Ampipe, a fictional steel town where the sun never shines and every pracice is conducted amidst a cold rain. You can't blame any of the players and coaches for wanting to escape. Parties take place in modest row homes and the locals hang out in a smokey watering hole replete with pool tables. It's gritty and it's real.
VB is the brainchild of MTV Films, and it looks like it. The cast is full of pretty people, the soundtrack features 90s acts such as Fastball and Collective Soul, and the whole thing has a slickness to it. That said, it gets a lot right, from the dads who spend their Saturday mornings watching practice to the former football players who can't stop reliving their glory days of yore.
Edge A push. ATRM looks more authentic, but VB looks like it is supposed to look.

Well, you know where I stand - it's All The Right Moves in a landslide. Both movies, however, are top-notch popcorn entertainment. And take it from someone who has spent over decade covering high school football in three different states - both films get it right, which is what makes them so fun to watch.

Next up: Region 3 finals

Manatee and Southeast will be playing for regional titles next week.
The Hurricanes defeated Venice 41-28 in a Class 5A-Region 3 semifinal and the Seminoles beat Winter Haven 21-20 in double overtime in a Class 3A-Region 3 semifinal Friday, sending both on the road next week.
In a rematch of last year's Region 3 championship game, Manatee (12-0) heads to Palm Bay to face Bayside (9-3).
The Seminoles (10-2) plays South Fort Myers (12-0) for the Region 3 title.

Winter sports worth watching

(Logo by snipsly.com)

Football is still the talk of the town with two of Bradenton's most storied programs, Manatee and Southeast, hosting regional semifinals Friday night.
But winter sports are up and running. Here's a sampling of some interesting action coming our way:

Dec. 2 - It's a district soccer doubleheader at Manatee, where the boys host Naples Gulf Coast at 5:30 and the girls teams meet at 7:30. Both sets of Hurricanes have been solid - the boys entered Day 2 of the Sarasota Thankgsiving Invitaional with a 5-0 record, while the girls are 5-0-2 under new coach George Ameras. But this double dip marks the district opener for both teams, and that's when the games begin to count.

Dec. 7 - Palmetto lost a large chunk of the group that helped the Tigers to four straight regional finals and back-to-back appearances in the state final four. At 8 p.m. tonight, the Tigers try to maintain their hold as the area's steadiest boys soccer program when they host district foe Braden River in a district match that could have a say in who plays where come the postseason.

Dec. 10 - Saint Stephen's heads to Out-of-Door Academy for a boys soccer game - the rivals' first meeting since the Thunder won last year's Class 2A-District 10 title at the Falcons' expense. It was the Thunder's first district championship.

That it's for now - just a little sampling to whet your appetite. Basketball fans and wrestling fans, fear not - we will get to you.

Just keep checking out Prep Rally.

Canes' Pompey out for the year

(Photo by scout.com)

Quinton Pompey, a defensive lineman and one of the leaders of Manatee's football team, is out for the season after undergoing knee surgery Monday to repair a torn meniscus.
Pompey suffered the injury during the first quarter of last week's Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinal against St. Petersburg Northeast.
Pompey's teammate, close friend and fellow lineman, Drakkar Wilson, endured the same injury Friday and also had surgery done Monday.
"It's about his future now," said Steve Gulash, Manatee's defensive line coach said of Pompey.
Dr. Daniel Lamar, an orthopedic surgeon who also works with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and is a Manatee alum, peformed the sugery. He told Gulash that instead of removing Pompey's meniscus, he could repair it, allowing Pompey to make a full recovery.
That means the Hurricanes (11-0) will be without Pompey for the remainder of the postseason, beginning with Friday's Region 3 semifinal against Venice. Pompey finishes the year with 62 tackles and 11 sacks.
Wilson may be able to return in two weeks, Gulash said.
"That's a matter of 100 percent, because they both have futures," he said. "We have capable kids that have worked just as hard ready to step in."

FHSAA's board makes two big changes

The Florida High School Athletic Association's board of directors approved the creation of a rural classification and the addition of another classification for select team sports during Monday's meeting in Gainesville.
A rural classification has been designated for most team sports, and will be called 1A rural and 1A urban for football and rural for other sanctioned sports.
In order for a school to be declared 1A rural for football and rural for other sports, enrollment will be between 44 and 600 students.
Schools declared 1A urban will have between 47 and 280 students, and the FHSAA will unveil tentative districts in December.
Six-class sports baseball, basketball, softball and girls volleyball will now feature a Class 7A classification for schools with enrollment of 2,260 or more students.
Girls and boys soccer, which does not feature a Class 1A classification, added Class 7A as its sixth classification.
“When the FHSAA originally went up to six classifications in team sports in 1999, we had 517 member schools, with 480 of those playing team sports. Now that we have 670 member schools and 650 of those in team sports, the number of teams in individual districts is too large,” Roger Dearing, the FHSAA's executive director, said in a release on the association's website.

Listed below are classifications, broken down by population:

Football Classes
1A Rural (36 schools) 44-600
1A Urban (48 schools) 47-280
2B (42 schools) 281-690
2A (42 schools) 691-1,099
3A (84 schools) 1,100-1,580
4A (84 schools) 1,581-1,925
5A (82 schools) 1,926-2,300
6A (81 schools) 2,301+


All others
7A 2,260+
6A 1,892-2,259
5A 1,599-1,891
4A 1,217-1,598
3A 525-1,216
2A 162-524 (soccer begins here)
1A 18-161
Rural 44-600

Surgery Monday for Canes' Wilson and Pompey

Manatee defensive linemen Drakkar Wilson and Quinton Pompey each have a meniscus tear in a knee and will undergo surgery Monday, said Hurricanes defensive line coach Steve Gulash.
Both are expected to miss two weeks, including Friday's regional semifinal against Venice.
Wilson and Pompey, who underwent MRIs Saturday, went down on separate plays during the first quarter of Friday's Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinal against St. Petersburg Northeast.
Pompey and Wilson teamed for over 20 sacks during the regular season and have drawn interest for a number of Division I schools.
Friday, Manatee filled the voids with a rotation of linemen that included Derrick Calloway and James Robinson. Blake Keller and Kelvin Carter are also options, Gulash said.
"All my kids are able to play," Gulash said, "and be a factor."
Manatee (11-0) host the Indians (8-3) 7:30 p.m. Friday, with the winner advancing to to the Region 3 final against either Lake Worth Community School or Palm Bay Bayside.